Every school has its "wish list"; those projects that may not be currently budgeted but ones we would love to see funded with a special gift. So how do we approach the "problem"?
Sometimes we look at the list of donors and their giving range and make a guess as to whether their resources and our need are a monetary fit.
Or, we could look at the lapsed donor list and see whether it is time to give a "touch" to a friend who hasn't given for awhile; a type of a "welcome back" to the school.
It seems that we can and do make the case for some project at our school without thinking and praying about what is the specific interest and (dare I say?) need of the donor. Donors are our friends and we need to treat them lovingly; Jesus declares that clearly as we are to love our neighbor.
I suggest that a better way is to be in a current relationship with our donors/friends so that we are already in tune with their desires for our school. If we commit the process to prayer the Holy Spirit will guide us in formulating the request (the "ask" to others) and He will go before us to prepare the donor to hear and evaluate the request.
This preparation will not always result in getting the project funded, but it will allow us to have a respectful and thoughtful interaction with our friend such that we could come back at a future date with another idea.
After all, we can always bring ideas to our friends, can't we?
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